Current Affairs Quiz-September, 2020

Notes:
India and Japan have recently signed a key agreement for Reciprocal provision of supplies and services between their Defence forces.
Called as the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), it facilitates smooth provision of supplies and services between Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and India’s armed forces. This agreement is expected to promote military cooperation and regional security.

Notes:
September 9 of every year is observed as International Day to Protect Education from Attack.
United Nations General Assembly decided to observe this day to create awareness about the plight of millions of children living in countries affected by conflict. Children’s right to education cannot be safeguarded in conflict areas without education being protected. UNESCO and UNICEF will facilitate to observe this day.

Notes:
In order to boost applied research and innovation in MSMEs and start-ups, the Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog has launched “ARISE ANIC”.
ANIC stands for “Atal New India Challenges” and ARISE stands for “Applied Research and Innovation for Small Enterprises”. The programme is to be driven by ISRO along with 4 ministries namely Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

Notes:
The Results of the 2nd edition of “Ranking of States on Support to Start-up Ecosystems – 2019” was released by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
The ranking exercise has been carried out by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The ranking frame work has 7 broad reform areas, consisting of 30 action points. In this ranking exercise, 22 States and 3 Union Territories participated.

Notes:
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Rajasthan government to develop the MSME ecosystem in the state.
This is the initiative of the Department of Industries, Rajasthan to provide financial and technical support to MSMEs in the state. The state has also amended the MSME Act to promote industries and exempt businesses from permissions and inspections for three years.

Notes:
A new study published in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology has found that Vitamin D supplements can decrease the rate of ICU admissions due to Covid-19.
The vitamin is found to be stimulating immune responses against various diseases including the novel coronavirus. The study was conducted on 76 patients who tested positive for Covid-19 in Spain. The patients who received the supplement were discharged without complications.

Notes:
Former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh passed away recently. He succumbed to post-COVID19 illness at AIIMS.
He was from Bihar and belonged to Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), which he resigned few days ago. Singh is often called the architect of the MNREGA scheme, which was implemented when he was the Union Minister for Rural development.

Notes:
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry has recently issued notification that extended the date of implementation of Toys (Quality Control) Order, 2020 to January 1, 2021.
Earlier, the date of implementation for the compliance of standards was September 1, 2020. The decision has been taken to ease the difficulties faced by domestic manufacturers in aligning with the standards.

Notes:
Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has recently released guidelines for schemes that include ‘Pottery Activity’ and ‘Beekeeping Activity’.
The Ministry had earlier announced expanding the support to Artisans engaged in making Agarbatti. Additional amount of Rs. 50.00 crore each has been provisioned for setting up of clusters in Pottery making and developing Beekeeping honey clusters under the SFURTI scheme of the Ministry.

Notes:
India’s apex judicial body, the Supreme Court of India has recently resolved to ensure that the pending criminal cases against sitting and former legislators would be completed in a time bound manner.
The Supreme Court said that more than 4000 cases against legislatures are pending across the country, of which nearly 2500 pertains to sitting legislatures.